Since the introduction of penicillin over fifty years ago, there has been continuous growth in the number of antibiotics commercially available for treatment of bacterial infections. As a result, today there are about 350 drugs on the market used for the treatment of a wide range of bacterial infections. One of the problems of continued use of existing drugs is the ever increasing acquisition of resistance through mutation and exchange of genes (Ritter et al Carbohydrate-Based Drug Discovery (2003), 899-932). Often patients with bacterial infections cannot be treated adequately with the existing drugs, as many bacteria have developed multi-drug resistance. There is a great medical need for new antibacterials that are effective against the various multi-drug resistant bacteria. The Applicant has identified a number of new classes of compounds (PCT AU03/00384; PCT/AU2003/001008)). Several compounds described in these applications have now been shown to possess promising antimicrobial activity, including activity against MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococci). In addition, several new chemotypes have been identified with potent antimicrobial activity. The applicant has also discovered disaccharides that have antibacterial properties (PCT/AU2003/01377). None of the new drugs in the art contain small molecules based on monosaccharide scaffolds as disclosed in these patents applications. WO 03/070715 discloses antimicrobial agents comprising glycofuranose compounds derived from hexose sugars which are different from the compounds of the present invention because the compounds of the present invention are either glycopyranose compounds of hexose sugars or glycofuranose compounds of pentose sugars.